Blue
by Suzanne Kaufman; illus. by the author
Primary    Little, Brown    48 pp.
6/25    9780316311663    $18.99

A curly-headed child, clad in a striped shirt, shorts, and rubber boots, spends the day with a great blue heron named Blue. The two “shriek, splash…and share” in the water. They play together and, as the sun sets, stretch their “wings, feeling our feathers ruffle in the cool air.” Then the heron flies away, leaving the child bereft yet still hopeful. Happily, Blue returns to take the protagonist on a ride through the night sky. Eventually, cold and tired, the child realizes it’s time to go home, later falling asleep in a warm bed while hugging a stuffed heron to “dream of meeting again.” Kaufman uses few words for this lyrical story of a young person’s imaginative journey. Her soft, flowing paintings are done in watercolor in shades of blue, black, and yellow with charcoal, pastel, and pencil. The watery setting is well served by the artistic medium: waves splash across the page, and sunlight spreads across the sky. A lovely celebration of the natural world and a child’s dreamlike place in it.

From the July/August 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.